Dark Times
by CatDragon726
Summary: What if there was a place where you could carry any amount of Pokemon you wanted? A place where Pokemon could evolve simply by being told to? This place is real, and if you search hard enough, you will find it. But beware the evil that lies within... (Wow, what a stupid title...)
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey peeps! I really should not be starting a new story right now, because I haven't finished any of my other stories... buuuuuut, that's kind of a a bad habit of mine. XD I hope you like this!**

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_CLICK!_

The Pokeball snapped shut. A tall figure with dark, close-cropped hair smiled smugly. "I finally got you, Zapdos. You work for me now." He muttered, walking over to scoop the Pokeball up. He set it in his Infinibag, which allowed him to carry as many Pokemon as he wanted without it changing its light weight. The moonlight shone onto his hair, turning the black to gray.

"Shade!" A voice called, angry and indignant. A girl with long, flowing blond hair burst into the clearing where the boy had captured Zapdos. "Not you again," Shade groaned, rolling his eyes. The girl stormed up to him until she was so close, their hands were almost touching. "I cannot allow you to keep Zapdos. It is one of the many guardians of our world. You cannot make it cooperate with you and your horrible plans!" She snapped. Shade laughed.

"How will you stop me, Cara? I still have your brother, you know. Hurt me and... well, you can figure the rest out." Cara's face flushed. Shade had captured her younger brother, Eran, a month ago, and was holding him hostage until Cara agreed to work for him. "My offer stands, Cara." Shade murmured, the words rolling off his tongue like ocean waves lapping on the sand. For a moment, Cara was tempted. She could save her brother, but what would it cost? She would work for Shade, who planned to take over the world with every legendary Pokemon at his disposal.

"I'll never work for you. Remember, I have Shaymin, Phione, Mesprit, Victini, Latios, and Xerneas. You can't complete your plan without them." Shade's bluish-black eyes turned rock hard. "Give them to me!" He exclaimed, grabbing Cara's wrist. She tore herself away from him. "No!" Suddenly Shade had an idea. "Give them to me, and I will exchange them for Eran." Cara froze.

"You... you will?" "Yes!" Cara's heart pounded so hard she was sure every Pokemon in the forest could hear it. "I-I can't give them to you. I'll get Eran on my own, somehow." Cara choked out. She turned and bolted, forgetting about Zapdos and all the other poor legendary Pokemon Shade had managed to get his hands on. She cried hard, thinking about her brother as she ran.

Someday, somehow, she was going to get him back.

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**DRAMA!**

**And in case you were wondering, no, Cara and Shade don't like each other. In any way. At all. Nope. (No, seriously. They don't.)**

**Anyway, REVIEW, FOLLOW, AND FAVORITE! :3**

**-CatDragon726**


	2. Cara

**A/N: Hello again! Not much to say except for this chappie is gonna be way longer than it normally would be. Don't ask why. I don't know.**

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"I'm SO gonna beat you this time, Ess!" "Don't count on it!" I took my position at the starting line atop Flari, my Rapidash. Zander, one of my best friends, rode up next to me on Shifter, his Sawsbuck. It was summer, so Shifter's horns were entangled with bushy green leaves, and his fur was a sleek light brown. My other best friend, Brandon, grinned at us from the sidelines. Yeah, both of my best friends are boys. Got a problem?

Some of Brandon's chocolate colored hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away, the smile still lighting his face. "Alright! The race of Essia and Flari versus Zander and Shifter is about to begin!" I rolled my eyes playfully. Brandon liked to make things sounds official. He wanted to be an announcer for a Pokemon Battle Stadium one day.

"On your marks... get set... GO!" Brandon called. Flari whinnied and shot forward, Shifter hot on her heels. I faintly heard Zander shout something, but couldn't make it out for the wind in my ears.

Suddenly, I felt Flari stumble. Shifter had made a tangle of grass wrap around one of her legs. I patted Flari's neck, a signal we'd been using in every race that I could remember. Flari neighed loudly, and a huge wall of fire erupted right in front of Shifter. The Sawsbuck skidded to a halt, braying angrily.

I gave a silly cackle as Flari formed a force field around the both of us, and together we darted through the fire wall. Zander cried out in surprise, and I tapped Flari's neck again. The fire wall disappeared. No use winning if the win isn't fair.

Shifter was close behind us when we crossed the finish line. Zander threw his hands in the air. "I give up! I've used every trick I could think of." I grinned. It was true. He and Shifter had pretty much tried everything, from a wall made of brambles to circle of vines. Flari burned through it all.

A shape appeared in the sky. It was a Fearow with a trainer on its back. None other than Brandon, of course. Arrow (the Fearow) swooped down and landed gracefully on the ground. Brandon was giggling but trying to hide it. "And the winner is... Ess! Again!" He announced, his deep blue eyes shining.

Zander combed back his mop of dirty blond hair with a dramatic sigh. "Gosh, I guess I can only beat you, Bran. And since I can't even beat Ess, where does that put you?" Even though he was playing, Bran put a look of fake hurt on his face. "Hey!" "Oh, shut up, you two." I said, and they complied. I slid off of Flari's back. "Thanks, girl. You were great."

Flari nuzzled me as a summoned her back into her Pokeball. Zander and Bran did the same with their Pokemon. "Well, what now?" Zander asked, looking around with a bored look in his greenish-hazel eyes. Bran shrugged. "Dunno. Any ideas, Ess?" I shook my head, sighing as a lock of ginger hair fell into my face. I had lost my favorite blue headband, and now my hair _would not_ leave me alone.

Bran and Zander snickered, knowing I wouldn't take offense. After all, there wasn't really a division between boys and girl with us three. They treated me like an equal; like a guy, so to speak. They didn't flirt with me or try to get my attention. They were just my friends.

My best friends.

And once you have true best friends, you do anything for them, right? No matter what gender. So when Zapdos came out of the sky and snatched Bran up in its claws, naturally Zander and I tried to help him.  
"Help! Help me!" Bran shrieked, his arms and legs flailing wildly. A dark-haired figure sat on Zapdos's back. Zapdos looked apologetically at us, a look I'd never expect to see on a legendary Pokemon (set aside the fact that I'd never expected to see a legendary Pokemon), and lifted Bran into the sky.

"You will work for me!" The boy on Zapdos cried, watching as Bran struggled. Then he spotted Zander and I. "And maybe your friends will come for you. I will have three new workers! I will have every legendary Pokemon in no time!" The boy's voice raised with every word, and my stomach flipped over. Every legendary Pokemon? Workers? What in the name of Arceus was this boy planning?

I quickly called on my trusty Skarmory, Blade, and Zander summoned Finlay, his Talonflame. We hopped on our Pokemon and soared into the sky, racing after the ascending Zapdos. We were about to reach them when a girl with super-long platinum blond hair zoomed past us. Zander almost fell off of Finlay.  
The girl was riding... wait, what?! The girl was riding Latios, another famous legendary Pokemon! My jaw dropped. Zander's eyes widened, and he looked as shocked as I felt. "Shade!" The girl screeched, her hair waving behind her. "Get back here with that boy!"

I guessed the boy on Zapdos was Shade, because he smirked down at the girl. "Not a chance. This guy works for me now." I could sense something in Shade's voice. Something powerful. I don't know how, but I felt a Psychic-type Pokemon at work. My mind grew hazy, but I shook my head to clear it. I was pretty resistant to these types of things, because I had a strong personality. The blond girl seemed unaffected as well. Zander and Bran were not so lucky.

Bran fell limp in Zapdos's claws. His brown hair rippled across forehead; a result of the wind Zapdos created with its wings. Zander seemed to start dozing off. He slumped against Finlay's neck, surprising the fire-type Pokemon. "Zander!" I snapped, but he didn't reply. "Get him to the ground!" I called, and Finlay was happy to oblige.

I turned just in time to see Zapdos and Shade making a break for it. "Oh, no you don't! Latios, Hurricane!" The girl shouted, just as I yelled, "Blade, Air Cutter!"

The two attacks were aimed at Zapdos's talons. It squawked in surprise and dropped Bran. "No!" Shade and I screamed, for very different reasons. I threw a Pokeball and my other flying Pokemon, Lilly the Braviary, dove under Bran and caught him. He started, suddenly clutching Lilly's feathers for balance.

"Get down!" The blond girl gasped as Zapdos shot a bolt of lightning at us. All three of us steered our Pokemon away. "Get to the ground, Bran! Help Zander!" I shouted. Bran turned without hesitation and nose-dived with Lilly toward the ground. I turned my attention back to Shade.

His dark eyes gleamed with anger. "You won't be able to hold me off for long, Cara. I'm not giving up yet. This was just a minor setback. The whole world will be mine!" With this, he whipped around and shot into the clouds. I made to follow him, but the girl stopped me. "It's not worth it." She murmured, looking down.

We gently landed our Pokemon. Zander and Bran stared at us. "Is that... was that...?!" Zander stammered. The blond girl, who I assumed was Cara, laughed a little. "Yes, that was Zapdos. This is Latios." Latios dipped its head to us, then started making low, urgent sounds at Cara. "You think so?" She looked bewildered.

"Who are you?" Bran asked. She gazed at us with stormy gray eyes. "I'm Cara. That was Shade. He's... he's a very evil person... he... he..." Suddenly, Cara broke out in tears. I rushed to her side. "I'm Essia, and these are Brandon and Zander. What happened, Cara?" I soothed, patting her shoulder gently.  
Cara wiped away a tear. "I'm sorry. I don't normally break down like this. But... you see, Shade... he captured my-my brother, E-Eran." I sat down next to her. "Why?" "Because Eran is the Ground Master." "The what?" Bran sat and rested his head on his knee, which was what he did whenever he was puzzled. Zander sunk to the ground next to him.

"The Ground Master. Every Pokemon type has a specific person that is their Master. That person is basically really good with that type of Pokemon, and can speak to any Pokemon with that type. Take me, for example- I'm the Psychic Master. That's why I can speak to Latios." Latios made a sound that resembled purring, so I guessed it was pleased.

"Wow! It must be amazing to be a Master." Bran said. Cara looked at him. "Well, Latios is telling me that you are one." Bran stared at her. "I am?" "Yeah. Which one did you say, Latios?" Latios made some more sounds. "It says you are the Flying Master." Bran looked thoroughly shocked. Cara's eyes closed for a moment, and then reopened. "All of your Pokemon are part Flying types."

Bran blinked and, slowly, very slowly, brought out a Pokeball from his bag. He clicked it open, and Arrow appeared. "Arrow...?" He tried, seeming a bit timid. The Fearow squawked back at him, and Bran kind of just looked at it for a second. "He-he says it's about time I realized I was the Flying Master." He laughed, embarrased.

Cara smiled. "Yes, they can sense when someone is a Master. And-" Latios interrupted her, making more urgent noises. Cara's brow furrowed. "Really, Latios? Three Masters in one place? I don't kno-" But Latios kept making insistent noises. Butterflies erupted in my stomach. Could it be possible that I was a Master too? "Essia!" Cara said suddenly. "Bring out your Rapidash." "Flari? Okay," I replied, summoning Flari from her Pokeball.

"Latios thinks you are the Fire Master. Try and see what happens." Cara urged. I nodded and went to Flari's side. "Hey, girl." I managed, my voice shaking. Flari nuzzled the side of my head. "I've been waiting for a while to speak to you," She whinnied. Her voice crackled, like fire. My eyes widened. "You can only do things as a Master when you know you are one." "This is incredible!" I gasped, stroking Flari's neck.

Cara grinned. "Yes." Then she turned to Zander. "Zander, was it? Latios says you are the Grass Master." Zander brought out Shifter without a moment's hesitation. "Yo, dude. Can you hear me?" He joked. The Sawsbuck stomped one hoof on the ground, neighing. "He says, 'Um, YEAH!'" Zander told us.

Cara clapped her hands together, eyes sparkling. "This is great! If you three are on my side, we'll be able to find the other Masters in no time!" "Of course we're on your side, Cara." I said. "But how will we defeat Shade?" "Well, he is the Ghost Master. He is gathering legendary Pokemon as we speak, so we won't have a chance against him unless we get some. What he wants to do is take over the world with his Pokemon- but to do that, he must have every legendary and must have discovered every type of Pokemon. He must also have every Master on his side, so we have the advantage at the moment. But to keep it, we must gather the legendaries before he does."

My friends and I gazed at her uneasily. "Um... find legendary Pokemon? And catch them? How will we-" "You guys are Masters, remember? And we won't really catch them. We'll just give them temporary homes in our Pokeballs, have them fight with us, and then set them free after Shade is gone. It'll be easy, really. I've already got Phione, Mesprit, Shaymin, Victini, Xerneas, and, of course, Latios." "Wow." Bran nodded, impressed.

"First thing's first- we'll need to get each of you a legendary according to your Master type. I have Latios, who is Psychic and Dragon. A good starting one for you, Essia, would be Moltres." I tried to imagine myself riding on the magnificent fire bird.

It didn't work.

"Call me Ess." I told her, smiling. "Let's get started!"

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**Well, I need some OCs to be Masters! PM me with this form filled out if you want to submit:**

**Name:**

**Gender:**

**Hairstyle and color:**

**Eye color:**

**Personality:**

**Type of Master:**

**Pokemon owned(you can have as many as you want):**

**Moveset for each Pokemon:**

**And that's it! Here are the Masters still available:**

**Normal**

**Fighting**

**Poison**

**Electric**

**Rock**

**Ice**

**Bug**

**Dark**

**Steel**

**Okay then! REVIEW, FOLLOW, AND FAVORITE! :D**

**-CatDragon726**


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